One of the world's first social networks, Friends Reunited, has announced that it will soon be closing down.
Friends Reunited was launched in 2000 and was designed to reconnect users with their old school friends.
It was quickly overshadowed by more popular newcomers, however, such as Facebook which launched in 2003.
Friends Reunited's founder Steve Pankhurst recently made the decision to shut down the website after realising that the social network had a measly 10 million registered users, the majority of whom registered over a decade ago and were no longer active on the site.
Looking at the few people who did still use the website, he realised they were mainly using it as a messaging board, which was not its intended purpose.
The death of Friends Reunited highlights the fiercely competitive nature of the social media landscape, as networks battle each other for member numbers and user engagement.Â
